For six months now, battles have taken place in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels, part of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic. On September 5, both sides agreed to a cease-fire, but the shelling has continued in the weeks since, both sides blaming the other for violating the truce. Of the estimated 3,600 people killed in the fighting, more than 330 have died since the cease-fire was signed. Most of the current battles are taking place in a few neighborhoods of the city of Donetsk, primarily near the international airport. Several contingents of Ukrainian soldiers remain in control of the heavily-damaged buildings of Sergey Prokofiev International Airport, attacked constantly by rebel groups who surround them, and retaliating with outgoing fire. Donetsk city authorities said many residential buildings nearby had been destroyed and that two shopping centers had also been hit. Tensions between Ukraine and neighboring Russia remain high, despite a recent troop pullback by Russia and scheduled talks between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russia's President Vladimir Putin later this week.
The Battle for Donetsk
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The main terminal of Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport, hit by shelling during fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces in the town of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on October 8, 2014. #
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A female pro-Russian rebel stands on a truck as she gets ready to take position near the Sergey Prokofiev International Airport during fighting with Ukrainian government forces in the town of Donetsk on October 4, 2014. Before fighting broke out, Irina was a croupier in a casino who never dreamed of taking up arms. Now she is gambling with her life. Using the nom de guerre "Gaika", a cartoon character that translates as Gadget, she has joined an artillery unit in a pro-Russian separatist group fighting government forces. "When your home is being destroyed, everything that is dear to you, friends, work ... It's about character. Girls who go into combat are real Russian women," she said in an interview, explaining why she joined up. #
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A loaf of bread and empty cartridge cases at a pro-Russian rebel position near the airport during fighting with Ukrainian government forces in the town of Donetsk on October 4, 2014. #
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Bodies are piled up at the mortuary of Donetsk's Kalinina hospital on October 8, 2014. Workers at the mortuary have been trying to cope with stress and despair as the casualties from the 6-month old confrontation between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists continue to pile up. #
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A Ukrainian national flag flies on top of a badly damaged traffic control tower as smoke rises after shelling at the Prokofiev International Airport in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on October 12, 2014. #
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AFP journalists, on top of a building, duck for cover while covering heavy shelling between pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian army in the vicinity of the International Airport in Donetsk on September 14, 2014. #
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A woman stands in front of a Ukrainian tank at a checkpoint near Mayorovo in Donetsk on October 1, 2014. Ten civilians died in attacks in Ukraine's rebel-held city of Donetsk on October 1, including an incident where a shell hit a school on the first day of class, regional authorities said, blaming pro-Russian rebels. #
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A destroyed house in Semenovka village on September 28, 2014. Semenovka village was destroyed by fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region. #
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A bullet hole in a Red Cross sign, outside an office in the town of Donetsk on October 3, 2014. A Red Cross staffer died when a shell landed near the group's office in Donetsk. #
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Givi, commander of the pro-Russian separatist Somali battalion, speaks to reporters at a lookout center of pro-Russian separatist soldiers near Donetsk's Sergey Prokofiev international airport where fighting continues between Ukrainian army forces holed up inside and pro-Russian separatist soldiers, on October 9, 2014. #
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Ukrainian servicemen man a checkpoint outside Mariupol on October 3, 2014. Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels clashed Friday around the flashpoint city of Donetsk, while trading blame over the death of a Swiss aid worker, four weeks into their shaky truce. #
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Smoke rises near a church, not far from the Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport, during an artillery battle between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces in the town of Donetsk on October 12, 2014. #
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Two people sit in an ambulance waiting to be treated after a Grad rocket slammed into a shopping mall in Donetsk's Kubishevski district on October 8, 2014. At least two people were killed, and five were injured after about six Grad rockets hit the area. #
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A high-relief damaged by shelling is seen at the Savur Mohyla memorial in Snizhne, some 80km east of Donetsk on September 26, 2014. The memorial complex, built in 1963 to commemorate a 1943 World War II Soviet battle, was reduced to rubble after battles between Ukrainian forces and separatist soldiers of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic to take and re-take the strategic position in the summer of 2014. #
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Parents and a pupil hide in a school basement used as a shelter after recent shelling in Donetsk on October 1, 2014. At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a mini-van in a nearby street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, city authorities and Reuters witnesses said. #
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